The Oatmeal Myth: Why Oatmeal Doesn’t Work for Everyone

UPDATE: I have received numerous comments on this post from angry folks telling me I’m crazy, that there’s nothing wrong with oatmeal. PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE POST BEFORE YOU MAKE A COMMENT. I mention in the post that I don’t have any problem with regular, plain oats as long as they work for your body (and I explain how to know if they do or don’t). Thank you for reading! Now, back to our regularly scheduled content.

We all grew up with the USDA food pyramid telling us oatmeal and cereals were a healthy, fiber-filled breakfast fortified with vitamins and minerals. As kids we were bombarded with images of happy tigers or other costumed and cartooned people/animals dancing around, happily chomping on breakfast “foods” in shades of color that don’t exist in nature. And that turned your skim milk bright blue and pink when you ate it.

Gross.

Grains at the base of our diets and the wrong kinds of fats have increased diabetes and inflammatory conditions.

The food industry is marketing these fun fake foods to your children (and to you as busy parents), so your kids grow up thinking that Fruit Loops are actually “food.” What they really contain is a bunch of GM corn flour, refined grains, and hydrogenated vegetable oil. That is not food, folks. Please don’t feed it to your kids.

But oatmeal is still healthy, right? I mean, it’s just oats! And it keeps you super full for hours! Until you crash at your desk from the carb hangover.

Why Oatmeal Isn’t a Health Food

One of the most common things I see in my practice is new clients proudly handing over their food journals, thinking their diets are healthy for the most part, so they’re confused about why they can’t lose weight and/or feel tired and bloated. Many of these folks are eating the instant oatmeal in the packets because who has time to cook in the morning?! It’s fast and easy.

There is very little protein (or enough calories to keep you full, for that matter) in this “meal,” but a lot of carb and refined sugar action. Here is what happens when you eat a grain-based meal with refined sugar: because there is little protein and fiber in this meal, the grains break down quickly into sugars, and the refined sugar is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, raising blood glucose levels, and triggering the pancreas to release insulin to move the glucose into cells so blood sugar doesn’t rise too high. Since only so much glucose is needed in the cell, the rest is converted to fat and stored. You only need around 2 teaspoons of circulating glucose in your bloodstream, so the excess is stored as fat if you don’t burn it off. This is why sugar makes you fat. Even if you do burn all that sugar off, you’re still not going to be burning any stored fat, because you have a steady supply of glucose to burn, so higher carb diets are not ideal for weight loss. Click here to read my post on how many carbs are right for you.

Back to oatmeal. Let’s say you’re eating the regular stuff, making it yourself, avoiding the instant kind. While that’s a better step, it’s still not for everyone (caveat below). 1 cup of cooked oatmeal has 28 grams of carbs and 6 grams of protein. You’re probably not eating it plain (because gross), so let’s say you’re adding a banana and some honey to it. That is an additional 44 grams of carbs for the banana and a tablespoon of honey. That puts your breakfast at 72 grams of carb and about 32 grams of sugars. That’s 8 teaspoons of sugar for breakfast! And we know what happens to all that sugar, right?

If you have sugar sensitivity (meaning you crave sugar, are prone to binging on it, struggle with weight and have energy fluctuations), a grain-based breakfast is NOT for you. Grains are high carb/low protein and will provide you with an energy crash a few hours after you eat it. Probably contribute to more sugar cravings, too. More sugar means the cycle starts all over, and prolonged, it leads to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

If you struggle with GI issues like bloating, reflux, IBS, Crohn’s, or other inflammatory conditions, oatmeal and grain-based breakfasts are not for you, either. Grains can be very irritating to your GI tract due to the lectins and phytic acid, which contribute to more inflammation.

If you suffer from the 3pm energy crash (or the mid-morning crash), a grain-based breakfast isn’t for you. Too much carb/too many sugars = zzzzzzz.

The answer?

Focus on protein and vegetables or breakfast, or if you’re in a hurry, try a smoothie. Oatmeal and grain-based refined cereals lack nutrients. If you’re going to eat food, make it count; focus on the biggest nutritional bang for your buck: antioxidants, proteins, beneficial fatty acids. If you really miss your oatmeal, there are tons of grain-free porridge recipes out there that won’t give you a crash. I have quite a few on my pinterest breakfast board.

HERE IS THE CAVEAT: If none of this sounds like you (you’re not trying to lose weight, you have stable energy, no GI issues, and no sugar cravings), you’re ok eating oatmeal for breakfast! I myself am a fan of overnight oats occasionally. I add gelatin to mine and make it with coconut milk. I don’t add sugar to it. You can soak the oats for better digestability and add a little apple cider vinegar to neutralize phytic acid.

In general, I don’t recommend regular grain-based breakfasts, because there are far better nutrient dense options out there, like protein and veggie-based meals that provide you with adequate protein, good fatty acids, and plenty of antioxidants to fuel you for your day. If you do choose oatmeal, I recommend adding protein powder , gelatin, or an egg to it for extra added protein. Don’t load it up with excess fruit sugars or sweeteners. Berries are a good option because they are a low sugar fruit.

Please avoid boxed convenience cereals, bars, oatmeal, whatever, at breakfast. This is not real food, having been refined, adulterated, and pumped with synthetic ingredients your body doesn’t recognize, not to mention the added sugar. It’s a simple choice: just eat real food. Understand that the food industry is a profit-driven industry just like any other for-profit business, and they don’t have your best interests at heart. Keep eating the food your body was designed to eat: food in its natural state.

32 Comments

Dan
on 13 November, 2014 at 2:07 pm

You have deliberately confused oatmeal with oatmeal serial product with sugar added… here is a link to nutritional data on oatmeal. http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/breakfast-cereals/1597/2
It has 0.5g sugar per serving compared to the example of 13g per serving that you gave. Yet at the end you recommend people to avoid oatmeal at breakfast.

Dan, please go back and read the article carefully (or read it for starters, since it appears you didn’t read it carefully). I make a clear distinction between instant and regular oatmeal in the first and second parts of this article, And at the end I state that if you don’t have a problem with fatigue or GI issues, oatmeal may be fine for you, but I don’t recommend it because there are better, more nutrient dense options from which to choose.

Dan
on 14 November, 2014 at 4:58 pm

Please go back and read your own article… The first part of the article is on food industry and advertising. And your final paragraph begins with…. “Please avoid boxed convenience cereals, bars, oatmeal, whatever, at breakfast. This is not real food, having been adulterated and pumped with synthetic ingredients”

Hi,
Glad to know someone from the US putting up this article about how the US processed food industry often, if not always, misleads people.into thinking its products are healthy. Oatmeal, cereal bars, low-sugar multi-grain flakes, high-fiber cookies etc. have become fads in the recent times worldwide!

By the way, the initial part of your article seems to be talking about sweetened oatmeal, not sugar-free rolled oats. I am told that oats has lower glycemic index than more common cereals like rice and wheat. In that sense, would oats be a better breakfast choice for vegetarians people for whom cereals and vegetables form staple diet? The higher cost of oats is a problem though.

As mentioned in the article, oats of any kind (pre-sweetened or not) are not ideal for everyone. They’re very high carb/low protein, which contributes to fatigue and energy crashes mid-morning or afternoon in sugar sensitive folks. Those are the types that seem to need more protein and do better on a lower carb plan.

ian
on 16 February, 2016 at 10:26 am

What a load of horse shit. You’re saying strawberry oatmeal by quaker is bad for me and you can’t even explain what gmo stands for your throwing a term out there nobody knows about without even explaining to back it up. Genetically modified my ass

That is exactly what I’m saying. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 10 years (or you’re not registered to vote), you know what GM foods and GMO are. This is not a post about GM foods, but here is more on why they have the potential to be harmful (and we’re also the guinea pigs in this grand GMO experiment): http://www.ibtimes.com/gmo-health-risks-what-scientific-evidence-says-1161099
Also, it would behoove you to learn the use of proper grammar and punctuation.

Colby
on 8 May, 2016 at 5:28 pm

For some types of people, plain cooked oats (add some sea/rock salt) is a very healthy option for any meal – doesn’t have to be breakfast. Because of its phytochemicals, manganese, and magnesium, it’s especially good for those high strung or nervous types, and can be eaten before work or bed to calm the systems. Though generally not very rich in essential trace elements, it supplies a lot of molybdenum, which most people aren’t getting enough of (because Mo comes primarily from un-processed legumes, peas, and greens and fresh, unroasted nuts and seeds).

Plain oatmeal is essentially one of the healthiest staple cereals for modern folk. As the article above warns against, what most people think of when you say oatmeal is nutrient-less, pesticide/herbicide-filled, sugar and artificial sweetener-laden garbage (that’s likely very old to boot, not like most people can tell). This stuff can be about as bad for your body as a fruit-and-nut candy bar.

Playing on the “avoid this macronutrient, eat this macronutrient” thing for health cannot and does not apply to a living, breathing human being. Generalizations like this spread ignorance and worsen many peoples’ disease states. The primary reason people can’t handle one macro or another is simply due to de-vitalized foods and an under-nourished state from birth (and very rarely a genetic problem). Simply removing something like molybdenum from the diet (which is very easy for this poor, unknown mineral) can cause widespread malfunctions in metabolism of nearly every complex protein in the body, including those that are vital to energy production. Symptoms may go unnoticed at first, and later on (after a cascade of negative health effects) a person may end up with a seemingly unrelated disease, which the doctor diagnoses as required. No explanation will be given for the true origin of the disease, for the simple fact that you can’t track every contributor to its formation.

The above is why people should worry less about macro-nutrient balances, and should eat more micro- and trace nutrient-rich foods, paying special attention to plain (no sugar, low salt, etc) preparation. Also, not saying the article above leads people astray – I’m just adding on. But… one thing: healthy people don’t have carb crashes or get tired after their meals. A healthy body knows what to do with this type of energy. With people who are having crashes mid-day after any type of breakfast, their body is experiencing a legitimate lack of control when it comes to specific macro-nutrients, due to the fact that they’ve drained a micronutrient or trace element, or have otherwise overburdened their organs. Clean the body, re-supply the necessary elements, and give these people a break from stress and plenty of exercise and sleep, and they’ll recover.

Hope this helps someone!

KB Davies
on 2 October, 2016 at 7:03 am

This is a nonsensical article full of contradictory information. The heading is intentional click bait too.
There is NOTHING wrong with organic Oatmeal with nothing added – something this article does not make clear, and even attempts to contradict.

I mean, to claim pure Oats are bad for you – BECAUSE they taste bland and you “have” to add bananas and honey to them, is the most foolish thing i have ever heard when to comes to comments on nutrition.

I appreciate anyone who attempts to educate others through writing; but the writer of this article needs to go back to school to learn how to present clear information in a cohesive and comprehensive manner.

I don’t think you understood the gist of the article. I never say pure oats are “bad.” I mention that if you don’t have GI problems or energy crashes and you’re happy with your weight, oatmeal is fine for you. Otherwise, another option is better. There’s never a one size fits all approach for anyone. Next time please read the article more carefully.

Patrick
on 17 January, 2017 at 11:31 pm

Great article, and very accurate. I think some of the negative comments are from people who are a little upset to learn that a breakfast of over 50% carbs isn’t exactly healthy for a lot of people, especially those who follow breakfast with a full day of sitting in a chair.

Personally, I’ve found myself happiest (and less hungry) when keeping insulin levels lower in the early portions of the day. 🙂

Dmitri
on 24 January, 2017 at 2:22 am

I got to this page by googling pros and cons of having oatmeal for breakfast, and I was thinking old fashioned oats in addition to protein rich foods such as eggs, milk, cottage cheese, whey, etc. Sorry, Mary, I see that you’ve tried hard, but your article in the present state is not convincing, and it may easily confuse a less informed reader into thinking that a plain oatmeal can substantially raise their insulin level.

SMH. I clearly state that if you’re not struggling to lose weight; if you don’t have digestive problems; and if your energy is OK, you’re fine eating oatmeal, just don’t load it up with sugar. I do recommend adding some kind of protein to it, as mentioned. Doesn’t anybody read anymore?

Anjoe
on 25 February, 2017 at 7:33 pm

I understand exactly what you’re saying because I started vegan about two months ago and I’ve noticed every time I eat oats in the morning, plain with my plain Ezekiel cereal or plain cooked oats, I’ve been soo tired, sluggish, and sleepy. Once I stopped eating the oats, I feel great! I’m real particular in what I eat because I’ve lost weight and I feel great! So you are right, it’s not for everyone, and it’s ok, we’re all different and if it works for you, than that’s great! If not than move to what does…thanks for the post

Jim
on 27 February, 2017 at 5:36 pm

Let’s see, oatmeal helps lower the risk of type 2 diabetes, helps lower bad cholesterol. I’m also sick of people with no expertise say that all carbs are bad. Oatmeal contains good carbs. I agree that instant oatmeal is not good for you, but regular oatmeal IS a health food.

Kt
on 28 February, 2017 at 3:10 pm

Oats definitely sabotages my hard work at the gym and outdoor running. I don’t believe in instant foods and do not add sugar or honey to my oats, only berries, bit of milk/Greek yogurt. All I get in return is weight gain. One week of cutting the oats from my diet gets me seeing the results of my hard work real quick. So, thanks for the article. Oats is not for everyone.

I don’t think anyone is saying all carbs are bad. The point of the article that you may have missed is that oatmeal isn’t a health food for everyone. Nowhere do I state that all carbs are bad.

Joey
on 15 March, 2017 at 10:02 pm

This article makes perfect sense, some of you need to learn reading comprehension. Oats in a natural state (are still processed) & even worse are the Oats prepackaged with all the sugar/additives. Cutting these out regardless of your symptoms is still a step in the right direction because you’re less processed food.

quaker hoax man
on 18 March, 2017 at 3:41 pm

i think this author is correct, oatmeal gave me a beergut! wtf!. Some people think they are being healthy by switching white simple carbs with complex wheat carbs. a carb is a carb and most people in society are sedentary and sit on their fat asses all day long! unless your a marathon runner or a boxer training for the championship there is no reason to eat a huge carb dump, and even then athletes choose white pasta for energy. good article!

Devonna
on 2 May, 2017 at 1:11 am

I read the article and completely agree with you, I love oatmeal. It just doesn’t love me, I used to eat a quarter cup then a half cup etc, I needed larger servings to satisfy me. I definitely got a 3 o’clock crash where I was sleepy and starving. Now I eat an omelette with vegetables and feel much better. Grains just don’t work well in my body.

C. S. Coan
on 3 June, 2017 at 5:00 pm

You people need to get a life!
Oats, like everything else need to be eaten in moderation.
Perhaps cooked or raw in a cereal (granola) form or mixed in with berries and yogurt in a breakfast-mix (without sugar and honey and chocolate chips) perhaps only a 1/4 cup or less.
No one thinks Quaker’s sugar-coated Oat-shit is good for Health.
Bob’s Red Mill has some very good oatmeal and does not remove all the fiber and does not add sugar, and does not recommend you eat loads of it each day! Be smart, and sensible and do not overeat, especially GMO BS like Quaker Instant Oat-shit.

Dawn
on 9 June, 2017 at 3:54 pm

This article is SPOT ON for me. I quit smoking over a year ago and gained 10 pounds. I’ve been struggling to lose it over the last 4 to 5 months. I have IBS with chronic constipation and bloating also so I am very leary to change what I eat and when I eat it with fear of messing up my system. My breakfast for almost a year has been steel cut oats or old fashioned oats with some almond milk, 1 tsp brown sugar or a drizzle of raw honey, some raw almonds or walnuts and a handful of raisins. I recently decided to go low carb and low sugar which meant I gave up this breakfast all together. I switched to one scrambled egg with some spinach, cherry tomatoes, a pinch of shredded cheddar cheese and three sausage links . . . in one week I lost 5 pounds! Not only did I lose weight buy I’m not bloated anymore. I’ve been bloated for what seems like forever! Low carb / low sugar works for me. I didn’t cut out carbs all together but getting rid of the oatmeal was a game changer for me.

Sara
on 30 June, 2017 at 1:45 pm

I was looking for new information on why oatmeal literally puts me to sleep these days.
The title “Why Oatmeal Doesn’t Work for Everyone” caught my eye.
I get that the large amount of carbs by itself could be an issue; however, I have found that just soaking plain oats in milk for a while doesn’t make me the least sleepy. Granted it is not oatmeal, but it has the same amount of carbs, so what then could be the reason for why oatmeal puts me to asleep these days?
In the past, I actually have tried adding eggs (protein) to an oatmeal breakfast to see if it would make a difference, but it would still put me to sleep.
Any thoughts? Note that the only thing I would add on occasion to oatmeal was cinnamon, and I would usually add skim milk, but I have also tried it without milk. It happens with both types I typically eat which are organic thick cut oats and steel cut oats.
Any thoughts?
Thank you.

Hi Sara, I touch on this briefly in the post, but the short answer is that oatmeal is a high carb breakfast. If you’re sleepy or crash afterwards, it’s too much carb for you (a very common reaction, especially in sugar sensitive people). Try a lower carb breakfast focusing on protein, a good fat, and veggies. Example = eggs, spinach, avocado or a protein smoothie with good fats like almond butter and coconut milk.

Andrea Bedard
on 8 July, 2017 at 8:13 pm

This article makes so much sense to me! Eating oatmeal…gluten free, organic etc. always causes my energy to crash. I ate oatmeal on a 6 day hike and felt very low energy the whole time. I suspected it was the oats. Sometimes after oats I need to fight to stay awake. I also know I am sugar sensitive. Thank you! You have solved a mystery for me and I will steer clear of high carbs and sugar. Eggs always make me feel great, as long as I don’t have them with toast!

Sarah
on 21 July, 2017 at 8:17 am

Very thought-provoking article. I for one appreciate all the research that went into it.

What brought me here is the same thing that brought others here: I was trying to figure out why I felt some overwhelming fatigue after eating a bowl of oats.

Also like many others, I came from the camp of, oatmeal is like the healthiest thing you can eat under the sun. My husband and I have gone round for round over this. He determined years ago that he needs a high protein breakfast versus a high carb one.

I’ve never experienced fatigue after eating oats before the way I did this morning, though. When I woke up I was full of energy. After the oats I wanted to go back to bed. Besides the carbs, according to an article on Good Housekeeping (which came up in the same search as this article), oats are also full of melatonin!

I’m convinced after reading this article that I would benefit from a higher protein type breakfast like omelets.

To follow the way that you said, I can say everything is bad. I can use bread to make burger with all bad meat, oil to add up to 2000 calories.

I am on diet. Oatmeal is almost the only thing I can get during morning and fill me up.

Dom
on 3 August, 2017 at 6:46 pm

I came across your article because I was searching as to why I always get dog tired after eating oats. I don’t add sugar but do add seeds and sultanas and berries, I have always struggled with oats and am realising I can’t eat them, except when I have insomnia. Oats are a great nervine and do help with anxiety and lots of other things.
I was more struck by peoples responses to your article. I read it, skimmed it at first then read the comments and went back and read it. Seriously I just think mostly people are being defensive and rude. What you are saying is actually nothing new nor is it that out there.
I am saddened by the way people have responded to you.
Oats aren’t the enemy, but sometimes they just don’t suit you. End of story move on people.

Sarah
on 15 August, 2017 at 5:12 pm

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I struggle with oatmeal as a meal. It throws off my body and I crave more! My mom and I run differently then “most people” when it comes to throwing off our blood sugar. I just needed it explained better because I didn’t fully understand why it happened. I’m happy for people who can eat it. Makes it easier in the mornings and on cold days 🙂

Judith
on 29 August, 2017 at 5:45 am

Hi Mary

Thank you, I agree with your article. I am sorry some commenters misinterpreted your article and quoted some of your article out of context.

I sometimes eat porridge. That is, plain cooked rolled oats with whole soy milk, with a little gelatin dessert made with stevia for dinner. The oat carbs allow me to wind down and feel satiated at night. But I do expect that sometimes as a result I will have IBS symptoms. I take some digestive enzymes which seem to help, but the enzymes are costly.

I like oats because they are low cost and fairly sweet so they don’t require sweetening when with plain milk. I also like them because they remind me of my childhood. Porridge was a frequent breakfast food in my family, but we also often had eggs/omelette as an additional option. My family were physically active as farmers.

Oats are also quick to prepare when busy. Just water and oats in a saucepan and I love the smell of cooking oats. You mentioned smoothies, however, I am deterred by using my blender because I dislike cleaning it 🙁

I am often physically active and my problem is keeping weight on me so I require extra carbs at times.

I usually eat meat/animal protein, nuts, vegetables and coconut for brunch earlier in the day for the reasons you state in your article. But eating meat/veg twice a day often doesn’t appeal to me, so I opt for something different like oats for dinner.

Jess
on 11 September, 2017 at 4:37 am

I found this article because after have oats for breakfast I feel like I need to go back to bed. I think if some of the haters commenting here go onto a bodybuilders site, they would find a lot of people complaining about the same thing.